


Imbalance

by ohmylords



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender, Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Avatar & Benders Setting, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-02
Updated: 2020-05-02
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:36:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23964760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohmylords/pseuds/ohmylords
Summary: The choice of a Nara in the makeup of the War Room has always been a controversial one.
Relationships: Nara Shikamaru/Temari
Comments: 4
Kudos: 23





	Imbalance

**Author's Note:**

> A bad brief summary of world building: After Korra and the earth avatar after her dies, the Earth Kingdom is the new global superpower. They want the avatar (Naruto) for nefarious reasons. Shikamaru is a fire nation national who actually bends shadows and is sent to deal with the whole situation. 
> 
> I'm just really psyched that there is likely to be a new avatar series! And I always loved the lore and spirituality of the avatar series so - this is the result of all of this.

**Negative Jing**

_ Chapter 1 of The Manual: Balance  _

_Yin cannot exist without Yang. Yang cannot exist without Yin._

_The Avatar is an explanation in duality. In fire and heat and smoke, there are elements fluid like in flowing water. In the chaos of material energy, yin and yang are meant to find each other, balance each other, teach each other. This is what lets qi run its natural course – unhindered and at ease. The body can then move and transmit energy into the elements._

_Yin-Yang explains relationships within the body, in sociopolitical struggle. It is applicable in all manners of life – a Fire Lord with an imbalance of Yang burns, consumes and destroys. Scorched earth does nothing for the masses – the populace suffers in famine and in war._

_On the converse, a Fire Lord with an imbalance of Yin is weak – his flames sputter and falter. He is easily misled by others – other leaders, diplomats, even his own. A house cannot stand without a foundation, the house of Fire collapses with a weak leader._

_Fire bending begins in the breath. It is an exercise in balance. Air, water warmed by the body, grounded in the feet – produces a flame that is stable and strong._

\--

The choice of a Nara in the makeup of the War Room has always been a controversial one. Few understand the power of the Nara and how they move shadows even though they are supposedly Fire Nation.

And of course, there are the whispers of how the Nara have never lost a game of chess. The Nara Generals have never lost a battle. A war. They have caused mutinies. Quelled rebellions.

The men in the shadows.

There are stories – that the Nara are followers of Vaatu, the dark spirit. And touched by the gift of chaos, have been able to bend the darkness and kill amidst it. The most treacherous tale is that the Nara are children of Tui, the spirit of the ocean, of darkness without the moon. Of course, that has been a story rejected by generations Fire Lords, since the first Nara Lord showed his ability to stop an army in their tracks to be burned into a crisp but rumours continue to circle and swirl.

Shikamaru is very aware of the stories. And the fear.

There is good reason why the Nara heir is always educated in the capital. Shipped off after being weaned, to learn history, bending, military strategy, all under the watchful eye of the Fire Lord and his men.

It’s not too bad he supposes. No one really says anything, being far too occupied with the Avatar, to consider the quiet, lazy Nara who often disappears from the back of the classroom to nap in some godforsaken storage closet.

He bows deeply before the length of the sprawling throne room.

“Your Lordship.”

The room loom overs him, red and gold and black shadows dance across the walls, veiling the face of the Fire Lord. The old men in the room turn to stare at him, the young punk, barely twenty, the only non-fire bender who stands alone in the doorframe, bracketed by shadows which spill out from under his feet. The only young face in the crowd of wizened man, Admiral Asuma Sarutobi, grins and winks at him.

The flames roar before quietening into a calm hum. He sees Hiashi from the Hyuga clan glare at him.

“Ah Shikamaru.” The mild voice of Fire Lord Itachi rings out through the room. “Come join us.”

Shikamaru nods, lifting up the edges of his red robe, before stepping across the threshold.

\--

He is thirteen when Crown Prince Itachi calls for him. 

The guards lead him into the Prince’s chambers and he finds a young man, eighteen, fresh faced, and clad in the loose casual cotton of a civilian sitting in front of a mahogany shougi board. His dark hair, loose and long around his face.

Shikamaru immediately bows low and deep. The traditional hierarchical greetings have been ground into all the boys in the Academy. A short sharp nod for servants and civilians, a shorter slower courteous one for people of the same age and rank, 45 degrees for teachers and seniors of the same rank, 90 degrees for those of royal blood.

“Your Highness.” He mutters quietly.

“Ah, so you are Shikamaru.”

He looks up ever so slightly, to watch the Crown Prince’s face. The Crown Prince’s eyes are red, the genetic trait of the Uchiha clan. Legend has it, that the eyes once held flames which could entrance into illusions which could kill him. Yet, the Crown Prince’s eyes are kind. They crease as he smiles at the terrified boy.

“Yes, your Highness.”

“My brother tells me you’re good at shougi,” The Crown Prince gestures to his board, “please, sit.”

The chess pieces are carefully varnished – the white made with what seems to be the ivory of an Elephant-Deer, the black with the claws of a Platypus-Bear – rare items for the Fire Nation, though common to the ordinary eye.

“White or black?.” A water wheel trickles silently in the background, the night-Kestrels sing in the distance. 

“Black.” He responds.

A half-moon of a smile ghosts across the Crown Prince’s face.

\--

“What do you know of our relationship with the Earth Kingdom, boy.” Hyuga Hiashi glares at him, his lilac white pupils glowing an ethereal gold in firelight, his arms crossed and stiff across his chest.

Shikamaru turns to him slowly and nods quick and sharp, just in time to see the man’s eyes narrow into slits.

“We have been paying tribute to the Earth Kingdom – heavily for the ports around Crescent and Roku’s Island – for the past hundred and twenty years since the fall of Republic City. The Earth Kingdom’s territory spreads from the Western Air Temple to the Eastern Air Temple – as the Middle Kingdom, they have gained prominence since the murder of Avatar Korra.”

The words flow easily, copybook practiced and memorized from him. Facts are easy, it doesn’t take long for them to be imprinted into his skull and then translated on to paper. The nightly discussions with the Fire Lord also help.

“Ah. Good.” Asuma carelessly smiles, tossing a scroll towards him. The edges of the scroll’s seal glimpses against the edges of his fingertips before landing with a dull thud on the lacquered table. Shikamaru’s mistake is met with a smirk, he breaks the seal with trembling hands. “As you can see, the Earth Kingdom wants the avatar.”

“Where will you hide Naruto?’ Shikamaru asks quietly, as he scans the letter. The writing is in the traditional Earth script, curling into itself as it dances across the page – angry and taunting.

It’s not a question that Naruto must be hidden. Everyone knows what the Earth Kingdom did to their own, the last avatar.

Asuma clears his throat noisily. “Prince Sasuke will be sent out to locate him in the South. We have had several postcards from Naruto of penguins.” He pauses uncomfortably. “As to what to do after locating him, this is why this meeting as been convened.”

Shikamaru nods, ducking his head respectfully low before inclining it.

“May I offer a suggestion, Admiral?” He asks, intentionally adding honorifics into the phraseology of his speech. He hears Hyuga Hiashi scoff to the side and it makes something purr and curl smugly in the corner of his chest.

“Speak, Shikamaru.”

He looks at Asuma deep, straight into the eyes. It’s almost insolent but Asuma will let it slide. “We cannot let Naruto back on to our shores.”

“That’s unacceptable.” A smooth voice interrupts. “We cannot let the Earth Kingdom have the Avatar.”

Shikamaru knows the voice. The accent which rings of old Fire Nation from before Sozin’s comet – power from the bowels of the volcano.

Danzo, the head of the fire sages, gently sips his tea from the drooping right corner of his lip. The left half of his face is wrapped tightly in layers of snow-white silk bandages, Rumour has it that it was seared off in an Agni Kai against the former head of the fire sages. Apparently, it was an easy decision for Danzo to make - half his face for power, control and a seat in the war room.

“Allowing the Earth Kingdom to have their hands on the Avatar is tantamount to suicide. Our civilization will be destroyed. They will ask for harder, harsher tributes from us.”

There is something manicured, dismissive in the way he says it – the tone dulcet and condescending, almost baiting him to speak out of turn.

Shikamaru ducks his head again, lower this time. Placing his left hand on the gold edge of his sleeve and reaching out with his right for the teapot, he extends the pot towards Danzo.

He can see the edge of Danzo’s smile curl like steam.

“Of course, Great Sage,” he keeps his eyes low, as the tea trickles into the porcelain cup in a small stream. “However, bringing the avatar to the Fire Nation is tantamount to treason and an invasion by the Earth Kingdom.”

He straightens his arm, before placing the heavy pot, quietly down on to its tatami placemat. There is absolute silence as the room waits for him to speak. Scarlet Uchiha eyes bear down upon them behind the flames and he keeps his head bent low, servile and genial.

“I would suggest... perhaps somewhere in the desert.”

\--

It’s a very simple plan.

Dye Narutos’ hair black. Transport him somewhere into the middle of the desert in the Earth Kingdom under the guise of Fire Nation scholar. Have him hide out there as Lee or Xi or Chen or some generic name until there was an opportunity to strike.

Of course, this was under the assumption that no one from the Earth Kingdom or at least no one important had seen Naruto before – but it was a risk Shikamaru was willing to take given that only a select few in the Fire Capital had even seen Naruto before.

Then came the less savory part. Explaining what happened to the avatar – of course, it’d be absolutely ridiculous to assume that a Nation would lose track of its avatar. It was not done. Especially not in the time when there was a looming global superpower threat knocking at one’s door.

There had to be a scapegoat. An explanation for Naruto’s disappearance that would put the Earth Kingdom off his trail. A murder.

A murderer and a dead body, preferably dead by poison. No one would believe if the avatar died as a result of a duel – poison, however. Poison was unexpected. No one, no matter how powerful, could stop their body from turning against them.

A water tribe boy would be good – an angry brash water tribe boy, angry at the Fire Nation avatar. Sasuke would explain to the elders and they would be likely to help, talk a young boy into playing Cain. In service of the Greater Good.

Two deaths – one at the hands of the fire nation, one at the hands of the earth kingdom to protect the life of the avatar. That was a good compromise, the council had agreed.

The sacrificial lamb, it was decided, by the council was a nameless scullery boy in the Fire Nation’s kitchens. A boy who could fire bend and therefore had same callouses on his palms, was about the same height as Naruto, and being half water tribe – also had the same blue eyes. He’d be seconded on a Fire Nation ship as a kitchen boy and the rest would happen at sea _en route_ to Ba Sing Se.

His mother would be given a large sum in the aftermath of the incident. His family, the three young sisters, they would all live comfortably on the monies. They wouldn’t need to become serving wenches in some nobleman’s house. They could go to school, maybe even open a shop.

The boy wouldn’t know, of course. Loyalty should never be tested in exchange for one’s life, especially where one is not even full Fire Nation.

He made good tea, Shikamaru thinks with a wistful sigh.

Yet, sacrifices have to be made.

\--

“What will a fire nation boy be doing in the dessert.”

Shikamaru puts his fingers, long and thin together. His mother always said he had the fingers to play the Tsugi horn.

“Well, Minister. He will be looking for Wan Shi Tong’s library.”


End file.
